Linda Plano, PhD, is the Managing Director of Plano & Simple. She is a scientist by training (BS Physics MIT, PhD Materials Science Stanford), a businesswoman by experience (executive positions in startups and established companies), and a pitch coach by passion. She has worked with over a thousand high tech entrepreneurs who have gone on to raise well over $1.3B for their innovations in cleantech, life sciences, blockchain, services, materials, robotics, and other areas, for first-time innovators to experienced serial entrepreneurs. Linda began focusing on pitch as a crucial skill in 2005 when she co-founded the Ignite Clean Energy Business Competition, the precursor to the Cleantech Open. As Associate Director of the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center, she also co-founded the Conference on Clean Energy, featuring pitches by dozens of early stage companies..Her work in these and similar programs in other fields led to the development of develop a simple but effective system for translating anyone’s value proposition into a compelling pitch: “Perfect Pitch” and the 10 Questions every pitch (and business) should answer. She has served on the boards of the MIT Enterprise Forum, the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge, the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust and the New England Clean Energy Council.